Digital Branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program

Leo Attungowruk

Leo Attungowruk was born in 1913 in Point Hope, Alaska, and lived in Point Lay, Alaska. His parents were Minnie and Jakie Attungowruk. Leo grew up living a subsistence lifestyle, where hunting and fishing were critically important for survival. Leo married Martha Ukpiksoun. In the 1950s, he found work helping with the Coast and Geodetic Survey and other visiting projects. As a life-long seal hunter and whaler, Leo learned to understand the sea ice and how to travel and hunt safely on it. Leo Attungowruk died on April 1,1990.

Leo Attungowruk was interviewed on January 4, 1980 by Ron Metzner and Frank Akpik, Sr. in Point Lay, Alaska for a project related to potential oil development of the Alaskan continental shelf. Amos Agnasagga was also present during the interview. The original interview was in Inupiaq. The interview was translated into English in August 2014 by Ronald H. Brower, Sr. and appears below synced with the Inupiaq audio. The audio quality on this interview is poor, so parts of it can be hard to hear and understand. The last thirty minutes of the interview were not translated as they are more about whales and whaling than about sea ice, so only the English portions appear for that portion of the transcript. Other interviews for this project appear in Historical References to Ice Conditions Along the Beaufort Sea Coast of Alaska (Scientific Report, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1979), but this interview with Atuungowruk is not in the final report. In this interview, Leo talks about sea ice conditions around Point Hope and Point Lay, effects of wind and current on the ice, a flood that occurred in Point Lay in the early 1940s, and living a subsistence lifestyle off the land and sea around Point Lay.